Labour’s Split Gets Worse

[Valin]

National Review/The Corner:

Noah Daponte-Smith

July 19, 2016

 

It sure hasn’t taken long for Theresa May to cement her reputation as a “bloody difficult woman.”

 

First there was her brutal cabinet reshuffle, clearing the government of David Cameron’s posh Oxford set, sacking George Osborne and Michael Gove, once the bright lights of the Conservative’s future. Then, during a debate over reauthorizing Britain’s “Trident” nuclear weapons program in the House of Commons yesterday, May was quick to confirm that yes, she would authorize a nuclear strike to kill 100,000 civilians if worst came to worse.

 

(Snip)

 

Perhaps in spite of May’s remark, reauthorization of Trident passed with a resounding majority of 472 in favor to 117 opposed. For Jeremy Corbyn, the embattled leader of the Labour party, the result is especially embarrassing. Corbyn opposed reauthorizing Trident; he has been steadfastly against nuclear weapons for his entire political career, as befits a radical of his type. But he allowed his MPs a free vote on the issue — much like he did in December, on the motion to authorize bombing the Islamic State in Syria. Corbyn lost that vote by a wide margin; yesterday, too, he lost, and in spectacular fashion, as Labour MPs voted 140-47 to reauthorize the program, in a mass rebellion against their leader.

 

This is not a wholly surprising result. Corbyn’s position on Trident is shared neither by many members of his party nor of the electorate in general. That he permitted a free vote in the first place suggests that he knew his whips would be unable to keep Labour MPs in line. Still, the sheer landslide against Corbyn within his own party is remarkable, and a resounding rejection of his authority as a leader of a parliamentary party.

 

(Snip)